Tuesday, June 27, 2017

I saw this idea on Pinterest, but made my own game boards. The child uses dice for this. One die for the 1-6 boards and 2 dice for the 1-12 boards. Originally it was just a 1-6 board, but I wanted to go higher, yet if you just do a 1-12 board with 2 dice, you can't ever get one. So I did it this way. I glued a circle to start with and (I traced a shortening lid) then added features, using scrapbook paper scraps. I also used odds and ends of stickers I had on hand. The google eyes are the glue-on kind and the child counts the number on the dice, then puts on that many eyes. Later if you want to, you can have them lay the dice on the word that matches the number. I haven't laminated these yet, but plan to. I made them from cardstock because I wanted them to fit into a notebook that has other preschool worksheets. I will buy a pencil case that fits into a 3-ring binder to hold the google eyes and the dice. Instead of using regular dice, I am going to make one from a block of wood with numerals instead of dots to count, as they are counting the eyes and I want them also recognizing the numerals. I think this will be a fun math activity for pre-schoolers. Another tip is to put more than 12 eyes in the bag, so that they can't just use all the remaining eyes instead of counting them out.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

I decided to make a new sewing machine cover. I wanted lighter and prettier this time, and chose this flower print. It was not the quilted material I usually use, so I inserted heavy pellon to give it more substance, and doubled the flowered material. When I looked through my buttons to find something to wrap the ribbon around, I found these fairy buttons. As a child I believed that fairies lived in the flower gardens, so these seemed just right.

Friday, April 28, 2017

These are bookmarks for a class I am teaching at church. This master makes ten bookmarks. I added dark brown ribbon to some, ivory ribbon to others, and a small star sticker to the circle in the key. I printed them off on cardstock, I used a fancier cardstock that was light brown and had a slight marbling pattern to it, that made it look older. This was a quote I wanted to emphasize in this class, and the bookmarks are for their teacher manuals.

Here are some. I ran out of wood forms to paint and can't get them in town, so more will have to follow at a later date. Maybe I will figure out how to make a Stuffy by then. :S
Left to right? The Wicked King, Hallie, Doc, Lambie and CeCe.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

My daughter talked me into making these for her nephew. I bought the hats at a craft store. These aren't the best pictures when you blow them up and you can't even see the black cowboy hat in the 2nd one, but here they are.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

The little one got the PJ Mask play figures for Christmas with all the characters except Night Ninja and the Ninjalinos. The other day I found a Night Ninja, but no Ninjalinos. This is my version of the Ninjalinos, made out of the peg people forms you buy in craft stores (but not for children who put things in their mouth). I was glad I looked them up online, because for some reason I spaced that Ninjalinos are dark purple and Night Ninja is dark blue, but other than that they look the same, only smaller. Of course you can't forget the teeny weeny Ninjalino, who is much smaller than the rest. One of these days I might actually do the whole PJ Mask set, but it isn't today.

Monday, January 16, 2017

I saw the ABC game on Pinterest and decided to make it. I bought the metal boxes at a second hand store, but plan to watch for one like the ABC activity for the number activity. The words and numbers are put onto tongue depressors with a magnet glued onto the back. They are stored in Ziploc bags. I put the word on with permanent marker. You put up a word and the child finds the letters to spell it underneath.

For the number game I wrote out the word and put that many stickers onto the tongue depressors. Be careful when you put on the stickers - bigger ones are best for the lower numbers and little ones for the larger numbers, and fitting them all on can be a challenge. I did mod podge the stickers on so they won't fall off. You can buy a small bottle of that for about $3 and it only takes a small amount.

I bought the letter and numbers in the same bags, paying $1.50/bag (they were on clearance). I bought 5 bags so there would be enough letters to spell names and words. My 3 year old granddaughter has played with this for hours, and it is educational. They are also easily stored. If you don't have a big enough box to play on the lid, let them play on a larger magnet board or the fridge.